


Petit Ours

by gendryw4ters



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Babysitting, Fluff, M/M, but now its like, i think maybe some people needed it tonight, look this was only supposed to be a short little thing, nearly 2000 words of utter mindless fluff but im okay with that if you are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 11:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10876020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gendryw4ters/pseuds/gendryw4ters
Summary: soft and gentle baberoe babysitting fluff because i think maybe that's what the world needs rn





	Petit Ours

**Author's Note:**

> hello itcha girl niamh back again with the mindless baberoe fluff
> 
> this is for anyone who needs it right now, and also just for all of you in general
> 
> thanks for keeping me writing <3
> 
> (unbetad and no disrespect intended once again!)

In all the time he had known him, Babe was pretty sure he could count the number of times he'd seen Eugene Roe out of his depth on only one hand.  

He had sometimes wondered if his boyfriend was even entirely human- unable to comprehend the way he seamlessly moved from one task to another; always knowing what to do and what to say to fix just about any problem they found themselves facing. 

Though now, as he stood wide-eyed in their living room, holding their next door neighbour's crying baby (Max, who Babe definitely didn't remember being in their flat when he'd gone to sleep the night before), Gene was looking more than a little out of his depth.  

In fact, Babe thought, he looked almost as though he'd been dropped out of a plane into the middle of the ocean. One of the bad oceans too, none of that tranquil turquoise Mediterranean nonsense. No, this time Gene had fallen smack bang into the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. 

"It's- next door dropped him off not long ago-" He begun, barely audible over little Max's wails. His voice was wavering slightly, as though he were on the brink of tears himself. "They said there was an emergency and could we take him for a few hours and- and I know you've looked after him a couple times so I said yeah, but-" 

Babe sighed, though couldn't stop himself from smiling a little too. He knew Gene would have found it impossible to turn anyone away in their hour of need, and it never failed to warm his heart, even if it did land them in situations like this every once in a while. Well, not specifically _this-_ though he had once had to stand by whilst Gene performed emergency first-aid on some guy that had been bleeding out on their stairwell. That had been _exciting._  

"Give him here." He did his best to maneuver Max as carefully as he could out of Gene's hands, cradling the little one gently against his chest and murmuring softly about how he too sometimes felt like screaming at the top of his lungs, but how that just wasn't very considerate at ten o'clock in the morning.  He'd looked after Max a few times before, on the days that his neighbours had been unable to find anyone else and he didn't have any plans of his own. He'd found himself kind of enjoying it after a while, too, not realising how much he had missed having little kids around him all the time until the first day they'd left him in his care. "Did they leave anything else? Bottles?" 

"Uh, y-yeah, hold on-" 

"Genie," Babe laughed softly as the baby began to quieten down, "you look like you're gonna pass out. It's okay y'know? Max is a good kid, just a little uncertain about new people, ain't that right buddy?" He tickled Max's chin with his fingertip, glancing up to offer what he hoped was reassuring smile, "cried the whole time I first looked after him, don't worry."  

That seemed to calm Gene down a little, the colour creeping steadily back into his pale cheeks. "I didn' wanna wake you up," he mumbled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, "an' I thought I had it covered but... Obviously not, I guess." 

Babe tutted, though it was more teasing than frustrated. "Gene, you can't always be expected to have everything covered all of the time," he chided tenderly, his gaze shifting back down to Max, who was now grabbing at the soft fabric of his pajama shirt, all traces of tears having vanished.   

"I know but, I- I dunno, I guess I figured-" 

"You figured that because you work such a difficult job with so many people of all different sorts that caring for one small baby should be a piece of cake? Despite the fact that you've only graced the maternity wards once and that was just on a tour so you knew where it was?" 

"Well I mean, when you put it like that..." 

A small smile had worked its way onto Gene's pretty lips, and relief had flooded through Babe. It wasn't that he minded being temporarily delegated as the more responsible or in control of the two, but he found it much easier to stay calm about it when Gene was managing to stay mostly calm as well. 

Tiny, sticky (always sticky, though Babe never had any idea why) hands reached up to cup his face after that, and soon he was smiling too, beckoning Gene over to be introduced to Max again- properly this time. He'd laughed heartily at the speed at which Gene had shook his head when offered the chance to try holding him again, though supposed it was good enough that he wasn't looking so terrified at the prospect of looking after him anymore as it was. Besides, Babe was pretty sure he could swing his boyfriend around to holding the little one again at some point later on in the day.  

He had his ways, after all. 

A couple of hours had passed before their neighbors had finally called to let them know what was going on. By this point, Babe had already taught Gene the art of making bottles, changing nappies, and peekaboo. Gene _had_ insisted that he was pretty sure he already knew the rules of peekaboo, though Babe had insisted on taking both of his hands in his and teaching him them again, just in case.  

"Oh, no that's absolutely okay, don't worry, he's a gem anyways," Babe had promised them over the phone, Max now dozing off to sleep on his knee. "And send all of our best to Ryan, you know I'm surprised nobody's broken their ankle on those stairs before, they were terrible-" 

Gene stood watching, leaning against the kitchen door frame as his boyfriend chatted away- two hot mugs of coffee warming his palms and a shy smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Despite panicking a bit when first left in charge of little Max, he wasn't finding it so bad now that he had Babe there with him to help. It had amazed him; how well Babe seemed to handle just about everything- though he supposed he should have known he would be great with kids, seen as he'd been around them almost all of his life. Gene, on the other hand, had not, however the notion of ever raising any of his own wasn't scaring him so much anymore- especially not if he was raising them with Babe. He chuckled softly to himself at that, the thought that their might ever be anyone out there other than Babe that he'd be raising them with in the first place.  

There wouldn't be, he was sure of it. It would always be, and had always been, Babe.  

When Babe asked if he could take care of Max solo for a few moments whilst he hopped in the shower, Gene had just beamed and nodded. Babe knew he was still uncertain about holding him, but figured he couldn't get into too much trouble, not whilst the youngster was asleep. 

So when he heard the wails of an unsettled baby come drifting in from beneath the bathroom door, he tried his best to be quick, not wanting Gene to end up stressed out again.  

Though by the time he'd come racing back into the living room, heart beating at what felt like a hundred times it's regular speed, all that had greeted him was silence. 

Well, not quite. 

Gene was sat peacefully on the old armchair they'd acquired from his grandma many moons ago, legs crossed, gently rocking the little boy back to sleep. He was murmuring something quietly in French, and it seemed to be doing the trick. 

 _"Il est temps de retourner_ _dormir_ _, petit_ _ours._ _C'était une journée longue et inhabituelle, n'est-ce pas?_ _Vos parents seront bientôt là,_  e _t alors il sera temps de rentrer à la maison._ _Vous savez, vous m'avez d'abord effray_ _é._ _Mais maintenant je ne suis pas_ _sûr_ _que l'un de nous veut que vous partiez."_  

"If you think I'm gonna sing a lullaby with you stood there watchin', you can think again." 

Babe was snapped from his trance by Gene's lighthearted teasing,  stomach fluttering at the warm smile dancing on his boyfriend's lips. 

"So you would be singing if I wasn't here, huh?" He shot back, grinning. He crossed the room in no time at all, perching himself on the arm of the chair and planting a soft kiss on Gene's forehead. Gene's nose wrinkled a little as he beamed in response, and Babe was pretty sure that it had to be one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. 

"In your dreams, Heffron," Gene had chuckled, stifling a yawn before leaning up to press a kiss of his own to Babe's chin. "Sorry, couldn' reach ya mouth on account of this little guy here."  

Babe just laughed. "There are worse things to get in the way of kisses, I'm sure." 

 

* * *

 

 

When Max's parents had returned for him later on that evening, all three of them had been at varying stages of drifting off to sleep, still curled up on the armchair. Gene's head was tucked into the crook of Babe's shoulder, his eyelids having fluttered closed not long ago. Little Max was still asleep on his knee, and Babe was only just managing to stay awake himself. The knock at the door had startled and woken all three of them, and it was Babe who was nominated to answer it- being the "most presentable," as Gene had put it, frantically trying to flatten his own hair (which somehow always ended up in wild tufts no matter how short the length of time he'd been asleep for).  

By the time Babe had handed the baby back over with his bag of things and returned to the armchair, Gene was already fast asleep again. Babe huffed out a quiet laugh, running off to their bedroom only to come back with a blanket in hand. 

"Gene, hey, Genie, budge over."

Gene complied with only a little whining, and soon the two of them were curled up together once more. 

And if they woke up the next day with sore necks from their position, well, they didn't really mind.

And if both of them had secretly begun daydreaming about baby names and nursery colours, well, then they were their own little secrets.

**Author's Note:**

> "It's time to go back to sleep, little bear. It's been a long and unusual day, hasn't? Your parents will be here soon, and then it'll be time to go home. But now I'm not sure that one of us wants you to go." - my french is /super/ rusty so I had to use translate a little here, so sorry if there are any mistakes there!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it! And that you're all having a wonderful day!<3 x


End file.
